


The Corrupted

by NotEvenThat



Series: Halloween Prompts [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Azazel - Freeform, Blood, Breath Control, Collars, Dark Thoughts, Demonic Alec Lightwood, Dubious Consent, Knife Play, M/M, Magic Blocking, Magnus's POV, Panic Attacks, Soulless Alec Lightwood, Stabbing, Suicide Attempt, Torture, Water Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-12-12 00:05:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenThat/pseuds/NotEvenThat
Summary: Azazel forced Alec to choose between his soul and Magnus's life. To Alec, the choice was easy but Magnus is the one who has to deal with the consequences for centuries to come.





	1. Chapter 1

Magnus sat on his knees, completely and utterly trapped by Azazel’s magic. He could feel it around him, snapping and cracking not uncontrollably but carelessly. Azazel didn’t care if he hurt him. He only held back enough not to kill Magnus, not yet.

Moments ago, there had been a fight. Azazel had broken free from the summoning circle, almost effortlessly. Magnus’s magic flared out at him, trying to keep him trapped, trying to hold him back long enough for Alec and Jace to send him back to his dimension. For a moment, they had stood a chance. Alec had stood with his bow clasped in his hand. Jace had stood, holding the sword up like he had been born with it in his hands. They both moved forward, perfectly insync and for a moment, Magnus had breathed a sigh of relief because they were there, they were a moment away from getting him, they were a second away from stabbing him.

A second was all it took, though. Azazel threw Alec and Jace back in an effortless wave of his hand. Jace fell, instantly. He landed completely unconscious, sprawled out on the stone floor of the courtyard with his blade still in his hands.

Alec landed on his knees, yards back from where he’d been moments before. He struggled to throw himself up but by the time he had, Azazel had already turned to Magnus and locked him in place, effortless.

For a moment, no one moved. Azazel glanced from Magnus to Alec and he stared boredly, remaining completely still when Alexander finally lunged forward and raised his bow. He didn’t even get the chance to pull the string back when Azazel threw the angelic weapon from Alec’s hands, sending it flying across the courtyard.

Magnus started flailing, trying desperately to pull himself free but Azazel stopped even that motion with a glance in Magnus’s direction.

Alec froze a couple of feet away from Azazel. He glanced back at Magnus, only once and then he looked forward and straightened his shoulders, refusing to look back again.

“Your soul.” Azazel said simply, raising a delicate eyebrow as he waited for Alec’s response. “I’d like your soul in return for the safety of your warlock.” Azazel glanced towards Magnus and twitched his magic, lighting fire all across Magnus’s body for a moment. As Magnus struggled and screamed, Azazel turned towards Alec again, waiting. “Should you disagree, I’ll simply kill it and be on my way. Choose quickly now, I am not a patient being.”

Instantly, Magnus was thrashing, trying to get Alec’s attention, trying anything to tell Alec _no,_ trying anything to get him not to agree but nothing came out of Magnus’s mouth and Alec didn’t even turn to glance at him.

Azazel let the offer rest for a couple of moments and when Alec said nothing, he lifted his hand towards Magnus and the words shot from Alec’s mouth instantly, “Deal!” Alec took a step towards the Greater Demon, his voice not even wavering as he spoke, “My soul for the life of Magnus Bane.” Even in a moment like this, Alec wasn’t stupid enough not to repeat the terms as he agreed. “I accept!” Then, breathlessly he said again, “I accept...”

For a moment, Magnus’s heart stilled and he wondered if Azazel had decided to kill him anyway. That would be better. That would be a million times better than Alec giving up his soul for Magnus. Than Alec giving up his soul for anything, for something as useless and impermanent as Magnus’s life.

Everything had to die, even immortals. Magnus had learned that long ago. Alec, on the other hand, still hadn’t learned that. He always thought of Magnus’s life as never ending, permanent, effortlessly more important that his short lifespan. It wasn’t though. Someday, Magnus would die, even if it was years, centuries after Alec had. Life was temporary, always.

Giving up your soul was permanent. Always. There were no loopholes. There was no going back. After a soul was taken, it was _gone_ but Alec still thought that Magnus’s life was worth more than that. He didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even look back. He didn’t even look scared because _Magnus_ was okay and to Alec, that's all that mattered.

Azazel lifted his hand and energy shot from it towards Magnus. The last thing he saw, before he fell forward and landed unconscious on the cold stone, was Alec lunging forward and then stilling suddenly as Azazel touched him.

 

Magnus woke up on the cold hardwood floor of his living room. His head was pounding, like he had drunk himself into oblivious the night before and his muscles were aching, like he been slammed onto the ground multiple times without even moving to protect himself.

Groaning, he forced himself to sit up and he blinked wearily around at the dark shadows all across his loft. Rain outside was pounding down around him and water was dripping through the bay windows that he had left open the last time he’d sat there. Magnus stumbled to stand up. The air all around him smelled of the petrichor and sulfur. Looking down at himself, Magnus saw that his body was covered in dirt and ash, streaking down his body in gray patched.

The world swarmed as Magnus stumbled across the loft towards the kitchen table. Scattered across it were open spell books and ingredients that Magnus had been using before Alec had shown up at his loft, asking about Azazel. A cup of wormwood and sage was dried out and crusted in it's bowl. Magnus’s phone sat next to it, drained and lifeless.

It took hours for Magnus to remember what had happened. Hours of loitering around, hours of waiting, hours of knowing that he wasn’t remembering something, something just beyond the grasp of his mind.

He took a shower and scrubbed all of the ash from his body. He plugged his phone in. He cleaned his table and placed all of his spell books back on their shelf. He closed the window and cleaned all of the water that had leaked in.

Then, when he finally sat down and sipped at the tea resting warm in his palm, he remembered everything. He remembered summoning Azazel. He remembered Azazel trapping Magnus and shoving Jace aside. He remembered Alec agreeing to give his soul away.

The tea spilt across his arm, as he threw himself up. In the courtyard, it had been just growing dark. Outside, the sky was pitch black and the lights of the city shone into his windows, brighter than anything else out there. He had been home for hours, he had been cleaning and walking around for _hours._ There was no way it was the same night. It could have been, logically but Magnus could feel that it wasn’t.

Alec had given his soul away hours ago, at least a fully twenty four, maybe even more than that. A whole day had gone by and by now Alec was long gone.

Magnus didn’t even know what he would have done if he’d found him, he didn’t even know if there was anything he could do, he didn’t even know what having Alec would accomplish but he was gone now and Magnus couldn’t even try and come up with anything. Alec was gone. He knew it without even calling the Institute to check.

Jace and Isabelle came to his house the next day. Whenever Azazel had done to delay their memory had worked far more on them than it had on Magnus. They went two whole days, brushing off questions about Alec, barely even remembering that they had a brother, until they finally had.

They stormed into Magnus’s loft, frantic and desperate. They had found Magnus standing by one of the windows, looking out at the city with a blank look, the drink in his hand slowly going cold. They wanted to know what had happened. Which, Magnus told them. They wanted a plan. Which, Magnus did not have. They wanted to know how to get Alec’s soul back. Magnus told them they couldn’t. They wanted to know how to find Alec. Magnus told them that they didn’t want too.

Jace left his home by throwing one of Magnus’s glass display cases across the room and then storming out. Isabelle left quieter and less violently but no less angry. They were furious. Magnus had given up on Alec before they’d even realized what had happened.

Magnus didn’t flinch as the glass shattered across the floor, decorating the cold wood with a million shards of shining crystals. He didn’t flinch from the look Isabelle gave him as she walked out of his home. He understood why they were mad. A couple of centuries ago, Magnus probably would have been mad at himself too. He use to think that there was a solution to everything. He use to think that there was a way to save everyone and that always, there was a way to make everything turn out right.

Now, Magnus knew that that wasn’t true. There wasn’t a way to save everyone. There wasn’t always a solution and Magnus knew that some situations were hopeless. Alec giving up his soul was one of those situations. There was no way to fix it. There was no way to get Alec’s soul back. There was no way to make everything okay again.

Hours later, Magnus looked down and stared at the cold tea in his hands before dropping the cup and letting it shatter, wet and loud against the rest of the mess on his floor.

 

Eventually, Isabelle and Jace’s anger bled into sadness. They came to Magnus one day, twenty years after Alec had left them and they took one look at the bags under Magnus’s eyes and lost any anger they still held. They couldn’t be mad at him, not when Magnus had barely left his loft in twenty years.

Magnus met their children. He watched as they fumbled around his loft and put things in their mouth that they weren’t suppose too. He made them potions when they were sick and he watched them when there were emergencies happening and the children needed someplace safe to be.

Eventually, when the children had grown older, he went to Jace and Isabelle’s funerals (Isabelle’s first. She was killed by a shax demon of all things. Jace’s second. He died of cancer, one of the few Mundane ailments Shadowhunters are able to get) and he told stories of them and Alec, standing up to the Clave, saving the cup, putting their lives so entirely at risk time and time again.

Sometimes, their children still stopped by to see Magnus. Magnus helped them with anything they needed and he always gave them a place to stay but they grew older and their need of help grew less and less, as did their visits to Magnus.

When they died, Magnus attended their funerals and then left New York. He met Isabelle and Jace’s grandchild at least once and then never again.

It was a couple of decades after Magnus had moved back to London, that he realized the full extent of the deal Alec had made. He lived with Catarina. He’d moved in with her after she’d visited him and insisted that he couldn’t live alone anymore.

Magnus supposed she was right. The void that had settled over him after Alexander had left, had grown worse and worse with every day that went on. They days that Magnus ventured outside of his loft he grew less and less under he never left for anything. He stopped enjoying music. He stopped reading. He even stopped drinking because the alcohol couldn’t make him feel more numb than he already was.

With Catarina, things were easier, at least a little bit. She forced him to get up everyday. She made him drink tea and eat food. She shoved books into his hands and told him to try and read until she came home from her shift. He did try.

Demons attacked the city a few years after Magnus had moved there. They were nothing uncommon and nothing to even be worried about but Catarina and him went outside and tried to stop anyone from being killed until the shadowhunters arrived.

Magnus was careless. He used his magic until he felt the weakness in his veins and then he kept going. He walked towards the demons, not even caring as their talon swept close to him. Then, when the Shadowhunters had just spilled into the streets, their angelic weapons flashing as they fought, Magnus slipped completely.

He froze, staring at one Shadowhunter who looked enough like Alec for his heart to still in his chest. That second had been enough. A demon came up behind him and within seconds it had shoved it's talon right through Magnus’s chest. Within seconds the venom was coursing through his veins, powerful enough that Magnus knew he wouldn’t survive, even with Catarina feet away from him.

The demon ripped it's appendage from Magnus’s body and he fell to the ground with a wet crack, just as his tea cup had decades ago.

Catarina ran to him. Her magic was flowing over him in seconds, pushing all of his torn flesh back together. Magnus muttered that it was useless but Catarina ignored him.

Magnus closed his eyes.

He thought about a lot of things in those few moments. He thought of Jace and Isabelle. He thought about Jace throwing his display case across the room. He thought about holding Jace’s child for the first time and how she had squirmed, warm and soft in his hands.

He thought of Alec. He thought about meeting him for the first time and how even before he knew his name, his heart started pounding in his chest like some part of him knew. He thought about Alec’s wedding day and how determined he had looked as he marched down the aisle and crushed his lips against Magnus’s. He thought about their first date. He thought about the first time they’d fallen into bed together. He thought about the first time Alec saw his eyes. He thought about the first time he told Alec that he loved him.

And then he thought about that moment, where he’d sat on the ground trapped by Azazel’s magic, his voice screaming in his own head.

Magnus hadn’t tried to hurt himself. He had thought of it so many times but he had never tried. Even on the worst nights, he had never tried to hurt himself but sitting there, feeling the magic in his veins _burn_ as the venom coursed through him, Magnus couldn’t help but feel _relief._

It was over. It was all over. Soon, Magnus would fade and nothing would matter anymore. Not himself, not Alec, where he was.

Magnus died ten minutes after the demon had stabbed him and his body had grew cold and hard until, hours later, Magnus woke up gasping and screaming in the morgue at the Spiral Labyrinth.

That's when he knew that when Alec bargained his soul for Magnus’s life, it hadn’t been only in that moment. Alec gave his soul away and he made it so Magnus was unable to die, ceaselessly.

 

Magnus stayed with Catarina for half a century and then, when he finally started forcing himself to play the motions and take care of himself, he left. He traveled and darted around from place to place like he hadn’t done since he was seventeen. He met people and forced himself to act like he was enjoying it. He forced himself to smile and dance and eventually, he found that he was enjoying it, even the smallest amount.  

He got the call sixty years after he had left London. Catarina had died. She’d been working on a spell that would save one of her patients. It was a powerful spell and when she was close to completing it and she realized that she didn’t have enough strength to do so, she kept going anyway. The man she was saving was fine.

A couple of years after that, Magnus couldn’t even be sure how long, Tessa died.

That time, Magnus tried to throw himself off a building. Not because Tessa’s death had been any more heartbreaking than Catarina’s but because Tessa was the last one of them. Tessa was his last friend that had been left alive. Ragnor, Raphael, Catarina and now Tessa. She was the last one. The last straw. The last thing that could have possible been taken from Magnus.

Magnus went on for two weeks. He barely ate anything, he barely even moved for two whole weeks. Then.. Magnus snapped. Absolutely everything inside of him cracked and Magnus decided to do the thing that he had promised himself he never would.

He stumbled to stand up, swaying on feet that were weak from dehydration and food loss. It took him an hour to draw the summoning circle. Years ago, it had taken minutes for Magnus to draw it. He’d grab the chalk and draw it quickly, his hand flicking across the ground, sketching it without even consciously thinking about it. Now, every movement was like agony in his bones. He should have waited. He should have had something to eat and then taken a shower and rested.

Maybe then, he would have realized the insanity of what he was about to do. He couldn’t, though. He couldn’t wait.

When Magnus finally stood and lifted the book, his hands trembled so hard that he dropped it multiple times before placing it down on the table next to him and reading it from there.

The incantation came from his lips soft and barely audible in the air. It would work, though. Magnus knew that it would. Perhaps, even thinking the spell would have worked but Magnus forced his cracked lips to speak it anyway.

When he finally fell silent, the circle before him started to glow with power and smoke rose from it as the ground twisted and opened, pulling the demon through.

The world flashed and Magnus stumbled on his feet as he tried to focus on the being forming before him. Everything was fussy and Magnus knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stand for much longer but it didn’t matter because suddenly, he was there.

His body came into focus and Magnus collapsed to his knees without intending too.  His body shook and Magnus trembled as he looked up, even his breath catching in his throat. He looked different than he had that last time Magnus had seen him but Magnus couldn’t focus on those differences, all he could see was _him,_ finally, finally, him.

Before he could even say anything, before Alec could even react, Magnus fell into the summoning circle, his head falling hard against the rough material on Alec’s thigh. The words came tumbling from his lips, desperate and hopeful, _pleading,_ “Take me with you.. Please..” His voice cracked weakly but Magnus kept speaking, even when his eyes had fallen shut and he stopped feeling the pressure of the ground against his knees, even when his whole body went numb, “Please… Please.. Take me with you..” He kept pleading, even when he stopped being able to tell if he was still speaking out loud or if the words were just echoing in his head.

Even when he fell unconscious, the words kept repeating, desperately, hopefully, praying that Alec wouldn't leave him, not again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please read this before you keep reading. I broke this story into two parts, just so I could make sure that everyone had to read this warning before they kept going. 
> 
> In this story, Alec is a soulless creature. He is going to act like one. He is going to do horrible horrible things. I will update all of the tags when the next chapter is written but for now this is a general warning. The end of this story will be happy, as in the characters will be content with how things end but there will be a lot of angst in the next chapter and Alec will not be warm and fussy towards Magnus. You have been warned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec has a bit of fun at Magnus's expense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I didn't start this as a halloween fic but I'm only updating it now because it goes so well with the halloween theme. So, I'm throwing it in with the halloween stuff that I'm writing.

Magnus didn’t wake up slowly, as he had years before when he’d woken up on the ground of his loft with no memory of what had happened to Alec. He woke up suddenly and in a flash of panic, gasping for air as he jolted up- or tried too. His arms were yanked back with the sudden motion of his torso, the velocity keeping his body moving even when his arms were ripped back painfully. His eyes shot open, peering into the darkness above him.

The room around him was void of light and for a few moment Magnus couldn’t even be sure that his eyes were open. He was flat on his back, pressed into thick blankets that were cold under his skin. There was metal locked around his wrists, thick and unyielding as it kept his arms trapped above his head. He could feel the chains under his back, leading to the metal that Magnus could feel locked around his neck. 

They weren’t only there to keep him immobile, Magnus could feel his magic locked in his body, vibrating as it tried to come out and protect him. Even through the haze in his mind, Magnus could tell that he was no longer on earth. He could feel the energy around him, snapping and buzzing across his skin in a way that the magic systems on earth never had. 

For a few moments, Magnus’s mind whirled trying to remember what he had done to end up here and then, as his heart sank in his chest, Magnus remembered. He’d summoned Alec. It had been centuries since Magnus had last seen him. Centuries of Magnus thinking about him, knowing that he could summon him, knowing fully well that he wouldn’t like what he saw, knowing that Alec wouldn’t even be himself anymore but thinking about it anyway. 

Magnus took in a deep breath and pushed away the queasy feeling in his stomach before pulling as hard as he could against the bonds on his arms. Instantly, pain lit down his body. He gasped, dropping his arms, practically quivering in pain as it ebbed away slowly. It was obvious that they had been enchanted. So, that if Magnus tried to escape, they would hurt him. 

Magnus only had another moment to think about it, to ponder what that meant and what he could possibly do now that he’d already put himself here, when the lights lite before him, blazing white and bright in his dilated eyes, blinding him completely for a few moments. 

When his eyes focused, Alec was standing before him. Now, Magnus could see the details of Alec’s body that he had refused to see before. His time in Edom had changed him and he look so much more like a demon than Magnus had ever imagined his Alexander could. Magnus knew that his body would have changed. It's the same thing that happened to the archangels, when they fell and became demons. Their bodies twisted and changed in Edom, until they looked as they did now and nothing like what they had been as angelic being. 

Alec’s body had changed in a similar way. It had been centuries though, not millennia and Magnus could still see Alec under everything else. His eyes were still the light hazel crystals that Magnus remembered from so long ago. His hands were still slim and pale. Magnus could still imagine him clutching his bow in one hand, reaching for his arrows with the other. His jawline was sharp and Magnus could still remember kissing down it, while Alec quivered below him. Magnus could see the scars of his runes all across his body, pale and faded.

Though, the differences were stark and Magnus couldn’t ignore them, even seeing the traces of his Alexander still there. There were patches of scales down his body: running across the backs of his arms and on the curve of his neck, dark and glistening translucent as he moved. His toes had grown into sharp dark talons and Magnus could see his fingernails undergoing the same process. Eventually, they would probably be large claws but for now, they were small dark points of nails, ones that could have been fake. 

He was wearing robes, not unlike ones that Magnus had seen before on Greater Demons. They were dark auburn and they wrapped around his body, bones and trinkets sewn carefully into the material, probably more for enhanced protection than fashion. On his head, he wore a heavy crown made from a dark metal. There were stone alone it that Magnus assumed were from hell itself. It rose into high spikes that Magnus was sure would pierce through skin effortlessly. 

He raised an eyebrow as he watched Magnus before reached up and taking the crown off his head, leaving his black hair messy and unruly as he threw the crown aside. It landed on a low table near the foot of the bed that Magnus was bound to but Alec didn’t look away from Magnus for a second. “So..” His voice was low and his gaze flickered to the ground as he smirked, before looking back up and meeting Magnus’s gaze with sinister amusement. “What was your plan?”

Magnus didn’t even come close to being able to respond. His head was swarming with the magic in hell and his mind was clouded by the sight of Alec. It didn’t matter though because Alec kept speaking, as if he hadn’t been expecting Magnus to talk or didn’t care about his answer anyway. “I’m assuming it wasn’t ending up here, trapped and tied to my bed, unable to use your magic, unable to escape.” His gaze flicked up and down Magnus’s naked body before looking back at him again. “So, what was it? Were you going to come here, trick me into trusting you, so that you could find my soul and force it back inside me?” He raised an eyebrow again and after a moment he spoke, his voice cold and commanding. “That one, I’m expecting you to answer.” 

Magnus shivered and shook his head no, his throat tightening uncomfortable as he tried to swallow around the collar on his neck. Magnus wanted to look away. He wanted to stop staring at him and even with the restraints on him, he had enough freedom to do so but he couldn’t. It had been so long since he’d seen Alec and Magnus knew that this being before him was nothing like the lover that he remembered but for a moment, for the time being, his mind was tricked anyhow. 

Instantly, Alec’s voice snapped, “Then what?” 

“I..” His voice was weak and scratchy even to his own ears. Under that though, he could hear the note of  _ awe _ in it. He hoped, fleetingly, that Alec couldn’t. “I just wanted to see you.. I..” Magnus’s voice broke off and he stared up at Alec silently. 

After a moment, Alec blinked. Then, slowly, his mouth grew into a wide smile as he stepped around the bed and walked closer to Magnus. “You just..” His head quirked to the side. This close, Magnus could see his teeth and he could see them shining white and sharp. “Wanted to see me?” He spoke is as a question but Magnus knew better than to answer him. 

Alec stared at him for another moment and then he looked down and laughed coldly, the sound sending chills up Magnus’s spine. Even as hard as he tried to suppress it, he was sure that Alec saw it when he looked up again because his smile grew even wider and darker than it had been before. “Tell me Magnus..” He reached out with one hand and ran his dark sharpened nail across Magnus’s chest, pressing lighting into the crevasse of Magnus’s navel. “Do you regret that decision yet?” 

Magnus didn't regret it yet. His life before this was dreadful. He woke up everyday and felt absolutely  _ nothing. _ He knew, deep down, that Alec was going to make him regret it but at the moment,  _ anything _ seemed better than what his life had been before. Even being with this twisted version of Alec, who probably loathed Magnus more than anything, was better than nothing. 

The pain that was to come was better than the void Magnus’s life had been before. At least, that's what he thought.

 

It hadn’t been Magnus’s original idea but now that his body was healthy again (Magnus assumed that he had died in the moments before he’d woken up because when he’d come back his body wasn’t aching for water and food as it had been before) and he was thinking more clearly (He had a lot of time to think. Alec was busy with something, something that kept Magnus tied up all day and kept him gone for hours on end) he realized that he _ could  _ try to get Alec’s soul back. 

It was in Edom, somewhere. Before, the thought of traveling into Edom, finding a way to find it and finding a way to shoving it back inside Alec had seemed impossible but now, he was halfway there. He was already in Edom and Alec’s comments before seemed to hint that he knew where his soul was, meaning it was probably close. 

The only problem was that Alec knew Magnus was thinking about this too. Alec hadn’t untied Magnus once since he’d been there. Magnus’s back and arms ached from the position that he was forced to stay in and his magic was welling inside of him, cracking and buzzing painfully from its inability to leave his body. 

He couldn’t pull his arms free and everytime he tried, the pain that went down his body grew worse and worse. He couldn’t get the collar off, even if he had been able to pull himself free. Alec had made it a point to show Magnus how impossible it was for him to get it off himself. 

If Magnus could get Alec to free him, he’d have a chance but Alec didn’t even seem to have the time to indulge himself in ‘playing’ with Magnus, let alone indulge Magnus in what he wanted (such as being untied). He was busy with something. Something important, something he made sure not to speak about in front of Magnus. 

Though, Magnus wasn’t sure if he was actually making an effort to keep Magnus in the dark about it or if he simply didn’t think of Magnus as a creature worth talking to and hiding things from. Mostly, he seemed to regard Magnus’s as a pest but not a threat. 

It was the same thing as him keeping Magnus tied up. Magnus wasn’t sure if Alec was keeping him tied up as a security measure or if he simply didn’t think untying Magnus was worth the effort. 

With everyday that went on, Magnus was starting to think it was the second one. Alec refused to give him food or water, seemingly not because he wanted to torture Magnus but because when Magnus died, he came back. Alec didn’t think it was worth the effort to give Magnus something that he didn’t need. 

For the first week or so, Alec mostly ignored Magnus’s presence. Every once in awhile, he’d poke and prod to make Magnus squirm but other than that, Magnus was like a childs toy, forgotten and ignored. 

Then, maybe ten days after Magnus had given himself to Alec, his demon came home in a good mood. Magnus saw it the second that he walked through the door and lite the stone room in whatever pale light came from outside. 

Normally, he’d walk inside and stalk across the room, going about his business without even glancing in Magnus’s direction. Today, he walked inside grinning as stalked across the floor, stopping directly in front of Magnus.

He had a demonic blade balanced in his hand, spinning it with a careful precision that Magnus had alway associated with Shadowhunters, always associated with Alec and now associated with this. There was some kind of twisted irony to it. Magnus had always loved watching Alec toy with his weapons. He’d loved watching him train with Jace and battle demons. Now, watching the repetitive, careless motion in Alec’s hands, all Magnus could feel was  _ dread.  _

It was funny, only a little bit, if he thought about it hard enough. Or maybe he was just starting to die again and his brain was becoming more and more delirious. Magnus couldn’t have guessed which one it was. 

“I’ve realized something..” Alec drawled slowly, not rushing his words for anything, not even Magnus’s dying breath. “I’ve been neglecting you a bit, haven’t I?” He looked up and met Magnus’s gaze, his mouth twisting into a smirk. “I mean-” He spun the blade as he spoke, lifting his free hand to emphasise his point, as if they were talking about something casual. “You  _ gave  _ yourself to me and-” He turned and looked at Magnus again. “What have I done so far? Tied you up? Let you die a couple of times? We haven’t even gotten the chance to  _ play _ yet. I mean,” His hand sparked, raw energy spilling from his dark hand in tendrils of red light, “You haven’t even seen what I can do now, have you?”

 

Alec pulled the blade from Magnus’s chest, wiping the blood off of it casually as Magnus thrashed, twisting away from the pain. His scream slowly draining into a loud whimper. There were cuts criss crossing over Magnus’s chest, a deep gouge running down the center of his chest, dipping into the space where Magnus’s belly button would have been, had he had one. 

Alec watched curiously as Magnus’s magic started trying to piece his body together. The collar locked around his neck kept his magic inside of him but his chest was carved open and his magic was flowing from the wound trying to heal him, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to pull his skin together before he died again. 

Magnus couldn't even guess how long they had been doing this. He had to have died at least three times but Alec didn’t stop. The first time, he’d carved into Magnus’s chest deep enough that Magnus’s heart had peeked through his ribs, though Magnus hadn’t been conscious enough to see it. He remembered thinking that his body couldn’t possibly heal itself from this. He hadn’t even known what Alec was doing but he knew that it was bad and he knew that his body had never suffered destruction like this, not even when he’d tried to kill himself. 

He woke up, though. Every time that he thought he wasn’t possibly going to be able to survive this, every time that he thought that they’d finally reached the extent of the deal Alec had made, he woke up. 

 

Magnus woke up, maybe hours later, maybe minutes, to find that Alec had grown bored with his destruction of Magnus’s body and was instead sitting on the side of the bed, absolutely drenched in Magnus’s blood with chunks of his flesh resting on Alec’s chest and through his hair. Alec was picking casually at the blood stuck between his claws and when he noticed that Magnus was waking up again, his face stretched into a smile, showing off all of the sharpened teeth resting in his mouth. “Good morning, Magnus.” He spoke calmly, his words flowing out like silk. 

Magnus closed his eyes. His body was still healing. He could feel it, slowly putting his flesh back together now that Alec had stopped ripping it open again. Everything was swarming, even with Magnus keeping his eyes closed tightly. Alec was speaking again but Magnus’s couldn’t even focus on the words to hear him, all that he heard was his voice and for a couple of moment Magnus forgot what happened. He forgot everything that happened over the past couple of centuries and he just remembered Alec and the warm comfort that he associated with his voice. At the edge of his thoughts, Magnus could see blood but his mind was too delirious to follow that train of thoughts and ruin this. 

For a couple of seconds, Magnus drifted in bliss and then slowly, he came back to himself and became more and more aware as the blood in his body started replenishing itself. Alec didn’t bother him. He didn’t poke at him and force Magnus to come back to reality but somehow, that was worse. 

Alec let him lay there and dream of a life so far away from this one, only slowly feel the cold reality tickling into his consciousness. 

When he opened his eyes, Alec was still sitting there, patiently. He raised an eyebrow as Magnus struggled to look over at him, his claws pausing where they were still cleaning themselves. Then, he leaned over the bed and places his hand gently on Magnus’s chest, watching with obvious enjoyment as Magnus flinched away from the pain that he was expecting. 

“As fun as that was-” Alec’s eyes lazily glanced down at the blood covering Magnus body, the bed around them, the banisters, the floor and somehow splattered onto the ceiling. His gaze snapped back to Magnus’s face, twisting in disgust. “You’re ruining my bed.” 

Alec stood up in a sudden motion and the chains locking Magnus in place fell from him, leaving only the collar sealed around his neck. 

Slowly, Magnus stretched his limbs and struggled to sit up, cautiously putting his legs over the side of the bed when Alec didn’t react to his movement. His body was healed but Magnus’s muscles still trembled under his own weight and his magic was practically gone, not as if Magnus could use it even if it wasn’t. 

“We don’t have all day.” Alec chided from the other side of the bed, though his voice was mocking and not threatening as it had been a few moments ago. “Well, you do. I don’t.” He walked around the side of the bed, his boots hitting slowly and methodically as he made his way towards Magnus. 

He stopped a foot above him and raised an eyebrow as Magnus looked up at him. His hair was hanging down in front of his face, caught in tangles of dried blood and sweat. Magnus’s hands were trembling where they were tangled in the dirty sheet. After a moment, it became obvious that Magnus couldn’t stand on his own and when Alec realized it, he sighed and reached forward his clawed hand clasping around Magnus’s upper arm and pulling him up in a harsh motion, as Magnus stumbled to follow. 

There was a door carved into the wall that Magnus hadn’t noticed before or perhaps, it hadn't been there at all. Alec shoved Magnus through it but kept his hold on his arm tight enough that Magnus didn’t fall forward. 

Magnus found himself standing in a large bathroom. It probably hadn’t been there moments before because Alec didn’t have a use for it. It couldn’t have been there before and yet, Magnus hadn’t seen Alec move to put it there. He hadn’t even seen him twitch. For the first time, Magnus found himself wondering just how powerful Alec was. 

The floor under them was laid out with red stone that was cold enough that it almost burnt against Magnus’s sore feet. There was a sink and everything else that a bathroom normally held, thought it was obvious that nothing in that room had been used before. Magnus’s eyes skimmed the room and after a few moments, he realized with a sudden panicked jolt that Alec was pushing him towards the bathtub. 

It was a large clawed tub brimming with water, metal rings resting innocently on either side of it, obviously intended to hold Magnus in place. Instantly, Magnus stumbled backwards into Alec, feeling as his claws tightened painfully on his arm. His voice snapped, angrily and impatiently, “I know that you don’t like water.” That statement alone was an understatement. Alec had held Magnus through panic attacks when he’d been forced into the water before. Alec had calmed Magnus down after terrible night terrors about behind held underwater. They’d stayed at hotels where they couldn’t use the hot tub, no matter how expensive and beautiful it was because Magnus couldn’t go near it without panicking. 

Alec had always been so careful with Magnus’s fear. He had always been so considerate and  _ cautious.  _ Behind him, Alec pressed his other hand against the base of Magnus’s back, forcing him forward another couple of steps, until Magnus’s knees hit the side of the tub. “But you’re going to get in this tub and we’re going to get this blood off you and if you do it nicely, that will be the end of it.”

Magnus froze for a few seconds, staring down at the water as is rippled, panic slowly building in his chest, until Alec reached forward and bent, grabbing Magnus under his knees and pulling him off the ground in a single harsh motion. 

Instantly, Magnus panicked. His hands shot forward, grabbing Alec desperately, struggling to get away even though it was useless. Alec claws tightened and Magnus was sure that they were cutting into his leg but that didn’t stop him from kicking out, ripping his own flesh away from Alec’s hand, as he fought to pull air into his lungs. 

Alec tisked above him but kept moving regardless of Magnus’s panic. He dropped Magnus's legs and Magnus felt as they fell and landed in the warm water before panicking even more at the feeling of it, fighting to keep himself out of it even though gravity was working against him. 

Moments later, Alec had managed to shove Magnus into the water and force his hands into the rings, keeping them trapped at Magnus’s sides, locked under the water. Magnus struggled, the collar around his neck doing nothing to help his panicked breath. The dried blood flowed slowly from Magnus’s chest and the gash in his leg, streaking the water with crimson red trails. 

Alec knelt down next to him and reached out, gently brushing his hand through the dried and crusted hair stuck to Magnus’s forehead, his mouth lighting in soft smirk. “See? It’s not so bad.” He trailed his hand gently through the water before reaching down touching gently at the blood on Magnus’s chest, smirking as Magnus flinches again. “It would probably even be relaxing, if you calmed down.” 

Magnus looked over and met Alec’s eyes, his chest still quivering with his erratic breath. He was on the verge of going into a full panic attack. He could feel it and when Alec reached out and pressed slowly but firmly on Magnus’s shoulders, forcing him deeper into the water, Magnus clenched his eyes shut and fought away vision of his step father’s hands around his neck by dreaming of finding Alec’s soul putting it back in his body.

That worked for a while but when Alec got bored and shoved Magnus under the water completely, holding him at the bottom of the tub with one hand, not even thinking about being reunited with Alexander could help. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to be the 'The end of this story will be happy, as in the characters will be content with how things end' chapter. This one was just a bunch of angst. 
> 
> On a separate note.. If you have any fluffy prompts revolving around halloween, send them to me on tumblr at 'Facialteeth' because right now it seems like everything I'm writing for this month is angsty. I mean, I'll take angsty prompts too. Thats the only thing I seem to be into writing at the moment, anyway.


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